McNeil

Restorable Mid Mod In The McNeil Neighborhood Vintage Las Vegas

March 2nd, 2010 Categories: Fun Features Found In Foreclosures, McNeil, Mid Century Modern

This is really a “fun features found in foreclosures” post.

This is a very restorable mid century modern home in Vintage Las Vegas. It’s a “desert modern” and one of the few in McNeil. Mostly McNeil is a neighborhood of “Ranch Modern”.  

McNeil was and is a middle class custom home neighborhood between Charleston and Oakey on the north and south and to the west of Rancho.

Hidden away behind all the over grown trees and shrubs, and the curved lava rock wall under the porte cochere is a really cool mid mod house.

This Mid Mod In Las Vegas is definitely a project house! It’s in one of the 3 cul-de-sacs of McNeil that can only be accessed going west off of Rancho Drive.  They’re the first 3 streets off of Rancho to the north of Oakey Drive.

The listing pictures kind of miss the best part of the house which is the towering  rock fireplace that looms over the 3 foot deep sunken living room.

The house has beamed ceilings, huge rooms, and plenty of mid mod flair to work with. It’s bank owned and priced at 235,700, and will require a healthy bank account to get it fixed up to it’s former glory.

The back yard landscape and pool seem to be salvageable but could definitely use some love from a new owner. The lot is a 1/3 acre – 12800 sf.

Currently, there are only 8 properties for sale in all of McNeil! They range from 180,000 to 420,000. This is the lowest inventory of available I’ve seen since the market peaks of ‘05 and ‘06.

Two of them are shortsales, this one we featuring today is the only bank owned one, and the other five are equity (or normal) sellers.

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The Las Vegas McNeil Mid Mods That Most Mesmarize Me

November 22nd, 2009 Categories: McNeil, Mid Century Modern

There’s 2 of them. Side By Side. Neglected and forlorn.

I had a chance to get inside the Mid Mod to the north a few years ago. The tenant had the place on a lease option and said he was going to restore it. Nothing ever changed from the outside. Now it’s abandoned. I have no idea as to what the inside is now like, or what it’s current status is.

The home was built by Tom and Wilma Panos in 1962. The Panos were restraunteers who ran the coffee shop at Nellis AFB and from 1941 to 1961 owned the Melodie Lane coffee shop at 3^rd and Fremont. They were leaders in the Greek Orthodox Community, and the church hall off of Jones and Hacienda is named for them. A brief history of them is in an article in the Summerlin View from June 20, 2003. There’s no mention of the house, however.

Las Vegas Mid Mod In McNeil For Sale

The other most intriguing Mid Century Modern home in McNeil, came on the market this weekend. It’s on the corner of Mason and Rancho in McNeil. You’ve driven by a hundred times and wondered, as I have. Kirsten Shafer of Realty One Group has the listing. I don’t yet have permission to show the interior pictures i took, and there’s none in the MLS. I’ll update if I get permission.

Trust me, the walls of glass, triangular clerestory windows, and folded plate ceilings are killer! It’s been added onto several times in the 1980’s. It appears to have originally been a 2 bedroom and 2 bath. Now it’s just shy of 3000 sf, on a 16,500 sf lot. The folded plate roof only exists in a very few homes in Vintage Vegas. There’s a few in Paradise Palms, one on Maria Elena, and this one.  There’s some loving that’s needed, but architecturally…It’s a mid mod gem. $150,000, subject to short sale.

McNeil is one of the favorite middle class neighborhoods of Vintage Vegas. It’s boundaries are Rancho, Charleston, Cashman and Oakey.  One of the funny things about McNeil is that the 1/3 and 1/2 acre custom homes in McNeil are labeled as “McNeil Tract”. There’s another part of McNeil on 8000 to 10000 foot lots that are labeled “McNeil Estates”.

Most of the homes are Ranch styled Mid Mods. But there’s also some great “Desert Modern” such as the 2 I’ve mentioned today, especially in the 3 cul-de-sacs (Laurie, Llewellen and Karli) that are accessible from Rancho. There’s also some really nice desert modern along Ashby Drive. There’s many dozens of posts that I’ve done over the last few years that mention McNeil, or that feature various homes, decorative block walls and privacy screens, and other great things about McNeil. You can see them all here.

I’m truly hopeful that both of these homes can once again be beautiful examples of the best of Las Vegas’s Mid Century Modernism.

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Fire and Explosion In McNeil – Vintage Las Vegas Loses A Mid Mod

February 27th, 2009 Categories: McNeil

We lost a lot of one of the desert mods in McNeil last night. My phone started ringing about 10:05 pm when it hit the 10 pm Fox5 news. I only talked to 2 of the callers, and by the time I got to the TV, I’d missed it.

Nikky, who lives next door in the house I sold her this last summer posted it on my facebook page about 9:30, so she actually gets credit for breaking the story.

I’ll plug in the links to the news stories once the video is posted online.

I’ve mentioned this house several times on the VVV. I’ve been trying to find a buyer for it for over a year now, as I thought it had terrific bones, and all the re-muddling that had been done could be corrected. Maybe with insurance money, the owner will be able to make the house right.

I’ll plug in the links to the news stories once the video is posted online.

Here’s a reprint of the story I did a year ago.

Uncle Jack And Jack LeVine Is Flattered When He Gets Imitated… And It’s Very Good For The Classic Homes And Historic Neighborhoods Of Vintage Las Vegas 

There’s a new Mid Century Modern listing in McNeil that caught my eye. I’m going to go see it this afternoon, to find out if it’s right for any of the people on my list.

Here’s the remarks:

“VINTAGE VEGAS!!!! Convenient to everything!!!! Great home for entertaining or simply relaxing in a peaceful quiet community.Berber carpets & Ceramic tile floors.The family room has all glass walls & doors to pool area. Master has it’s own sauna, spa & door to pool area.This home won a national design award. This property is surrounded by Vegas history makers. Jerry Lewis is 3 blocks away, The Binion homes are blocks away. This is truly Vintage Vegas!!!”

If you’re not on “the list” it’s real easy to get there. All you have to do is start communicating with me. Send me an email, give me a call, or use the search the MLS feature and save your searches.

I’d previously shown you the decorative concrete blocks on the front of this home (as I understand it, they were blown apart by the explosion). They were pattern number 35 in the series I ran last summer about the Mid Mod Decorative Concrete Blocks of Vintage Vegas (this link gives you the entire series).

I’m going to see if I can get one of them for my collection. I’ll be going over there tomorrow to take pictures.

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The Pillars, Posts and Columns Of The Retro Homes Of Las Vegas

September 3rd, 2008 Categories: McNeil, Pillars Posts And Columns

And there’s support walls also. This one is 1×8 planks with an offset bias.

It’s from McNeil, which is one of the most popular of the Vintage Vegas Neighborhoods.

There’s actually 4 separate subdivision names within McNeil. There’s no rhyme or reason that I can see, as to which streets are in McNeil Park or McNeil Estates or McNeil Manor or McNeil Tract. Therefore we lump them all together to just call this gorgeous neighborhood “McNeil”.

All of the homes were custom built. The developer merely cut up and sold off the lots. There are a few duplicate houses where one builder built the same home on a few different lots, but in general, each home in McNeil is unique and custom.

McNeil runs between Charleston and Oakey to the west of Rancho Drive.  

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Tuesday’s OPEN HOUSE – The Lowest Price Home In McNeil Is a Bank Owned Foreclosure

July 20th, 2008 Categories: McNeil

This weeks “best foreclosure deal I can find” is in the famous McNeil neighborhood. The brick fireplace I showed you the other day is in this home. There’s not a lot of “cool” vintage fixtures, but this one is my choice because it’s only 108/sf and the lowest price McNeil home on the market.

It’s a little rough around the edges, but for $256,000, you can get into McNeil and spend a few months playing with the floors and the paint and the landscape. The floor plan is typical mid mod ranch, and the room with the brick fireplace is a patio conversion off of the back. The kitchen’s and baths have been kind of updated, but beyond being dirty, they’re not bad (in an updated sort of way).

It’s “livable” by FHA standards, which means you can get in for as little as 3% down if you’re owner occupied.

I’ll be there Tuesday from 3pm to 6 pm if you’d like to stop by. I’d love to meet any of the VVV readers in person whether you’re in the market or not. Even if this isn’t the right right bargain for you, I probably know the one that is. Come by and say HELLO! 

2813 Gilmary. From Oakey and Rancho, West one street to Strong. North on Strong to Gilmary, and West on Gilmary to 2813

There’s more pictures below the fold. Just click HERE to see the rest of them.

Read the rest of this entry »

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Often Called “Stone Screens”, Decorative Concrete Block Can Be Found In All Of The Historic Las Vegas Neighborhoods

February 18th, 2008 Categories: Decorating Tips, Historic Preservation, Home Repair and Remodel, Las Vegas Real Estate News, McNeil, Mid Century Modern

I thought I’d found every single pattern that there could possibly be, but lo and behold…. 2 more!

Almost every pattern I’ve found can be found on many different homes, but these 2 so far on unique. I found the first one in McNeil, and the second pattern in a pretty run down neighborhood near Tropicana and the 515.

We done several posts on these venerable pieces of mid century modernism, and thanks to MaryMargaret, we discovered that there’s a name for them.

Many of the posts about these really cool mid century modern designs are on our old blog, which we’ve saved for posterity. The old blog was used between March and September of 2007

They’re all over in vintage vegas, and one of the elements that you should look for when driving thru our historic Las Vegas Neighborhoods

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Uncle Jack And Jack LeVine Is Flattered When He Gets Imitated… And It’s Very Good For The Classic Homes And Historic Neighborhoods Of Vintage Las Vegas

February 3rd, 2008 Categories: Las Vegas Real Estate News, McNeil, Mid Century Modern

There’s a new Mid Century Modern listing in McNeil that caught my eye. I’m going to go see it this afternoon, to find out if it’s right for any of the people on my list.

Here’s the remarks: 

“VINTAGE VEGAS!!!! Convenient to everything!!!! Great home for entertaining or simply relaxing in a peaceful quiet community.Berber carpets & Ceramic tile floors.The family room has all glass walls & doors to pool area. Master has it’s own sauna, spa & door to pool area.This home won a national design award. This property is surrounded by Vegas history makers. Jerry Lewis is 3 blocks away, The Binion homes are blocks away. This is truly Vintage Vegas!!!”

 If you’re not on “the list” it’s real easy to get there. All you have to do is start communicating with me. Send me an email, give me a call, or use the search the MLS feature and save your searches.

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Very Vintage Columbus – My Childhood Stomping Grounds

October 14th, 2007 Categories: Downtown Las Vegas, Housing Styles, Las Vegas History, Las Vegas Real Estate News, McNeil

Joe Peffer writes a similar blog to VVV that’s about Very Vintage Columbus Ohio. Of course an old home in Columbus was built in the 10’s and 20’s or even earlier.

The first house JJ and I cut our teeth on as home restorers cost me a big chunk of my life savings and an even bigger chunk of my ego. It was built in 1894 and sits smack in the middle of what Joe calls “Old Town East” which is no further from downtown Columbus than Huntridge or McNeil is from Downtown Las Vegas.

We bought it for $18,000, spent 18,000 on it, paid the realtor etc, and sold it for 36,000. Net Loss….$5000. But that’s were I learned to finish drywall, and sweat copper pipes and finish cement, and install a water heater, and glaze a window, and paint and and and and.

Columbus was already a 100 year old city with well over a million people even when I was a kid way back in the 50’s. Vegas was only about 50,000 people then. I grew up in a neighborhood similar to McNeil, that was built in the late 50’s. But in Columbus, late 50’s neighborhoods were about as far from downtown as su**erlin (no swear words allowed) is from Downtown Las Vegas.

If you know about a neighborhood or downtown area in the city you’re from, I’d love to hear about it. Especially if it has had a rebirth similar to what Vintage Vegas is going through.

There’s a few more pictures of some other homes on the same street. If you want to see them… someone other than MJ has to tell me so in the comments.

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Today’s Re-Run – What Is A Cinderella Ranch

September 30th, 2007 Categories: Architecture, Bel Air, Enchanted Village, Housing Styles, Las Verdes, McNeil, Mid Century Modern

There’s over 600 posts that we’ve done sitting on our “old” blog which you can access here, or in the link in the Archive Section in the left column.

From our Archives, May 9, 2007

Yes, the ranch home was a version of the modernist movement of the 50′s and 60′s. To get away from the boxy flat faced look, some architects got the idea to add some ornamentation to the fronts. Scroll work facia boards, extended awnings, and roof ornamentation got added to give the homes a very unique look. Inside is ranch ranch ranch….but outside became the fairy tale home.

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We’re Curious About The Roof Line In This McNeil Remodel

September 25th, 2007 Categories: Architecture, Housing Styles, McNeil

We’re trying to figure out what the final roof line will look like in this expansion in McNeil.

You can see the original pitched roof home hiding under the new front additions.

I can’t figure out if it’s going to be a Sante Fe Hacienda, or a mansard of sorts. The triangular corners and the arched projections over the roof line are unique. The corners could make it look Tiki, but who knows.

If you want to follow along as it progresses, it’s on LLewellen Circle, one of the McNeil Cul-de-sacs off Rancho, north of Oakey.

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